Making Nuanced Distinctions

From: "Valerie Gardner" <valerie@tiemann.net>
Date:  Tue Nov 8, 2011
Subject:  Making Nuanced Distinctions

I believe that the Atherton Library Building Steering Committee, comprised of Councilmember Kathy McKeithen, Denise Kupperman, Karen Bliss, Sandy Crittenden, and Marion Oster, with Joan Sanders and Ginny Nile as voting alternates, are a hard-working and well-intentioned group who have very clearly embraced a gorgeous vision for a possible new library in Holbrook-Palmer Park. These  individuals and their supporters, including Pat Dobbie and Councilmember Jim Dobbie, clearly see a strong value in putting the new expanded library in the park and they have done a lot of work.  They are entitled to feel strongly about their preferences.

Most of us can visualize how lovely that new library in the park could be.  Others, architects included, believe that an equally lovely job can be done to improve the current library site down town. At the Library's June workshop that I attended, I heard some very creative and surprisingly smart ideas for ways to expand the footprint in the town center to accommodate an increase in size.  I also heard quite a few people express unhappiness at moving the library operations into the park, fearing how that would interfere with the park's sometimes quite congested recreational uses.  I heard a lot of concerns expressed and questions about the whole process, which frankly, I share. 

The workshop that I attended, after a wonderful hour and a half presentation, gave us about 30 minutes to discuss one or the other site option.  We did not get time to explore both options.  We also did not get asked to raise hands in a show of support for one or the other location.  In fact, I don't believe that the ALBSC conducted any formal or informal survey of opinions on this specific issue. The two other workshop formats were the same.  I have now asked twice for the committee's summary of community ideas, comments and input received during the workshops and I have not gotten it.  Bill Widmer told me he also asked to see a report of the community input.  I found myself doing a little reading on the Library Website  to learn more and try to find this essential element.  What I found was a shocking dearth of information.

Aside from the 3 workshops over the summer, the committee conducted 3 focus groups.  They interviewed 6 moms and a nanny for one focus group.  A class of M-A juniors and seniors, of which only one had even been to our library, for the second focus group.  And they interviewed themselves, to talk about what space they wanted, for the third focus group.  Otherwise, no other surveys or community input was listed.  They do not appear to have surveyed ACIL, Dames, Park & Rec, dog walkers, path walkers, Little League, Lacrosse, Soccer, playground users, Playschool users, Homeowner Asociations, Families with kids, or any active park user groups.  If they did, results were not posted.

Which is why I was greatly dismayed to learn that the committee presented its recommendations to the council in October and the council, with Bill Widmer joining McKeithen and Dobbie, approved the ALBSC's recommendation. Where is the report on what the community input disclosed?  When I subsequently received the below message from this list, I felt that residents of this town could use a little more nuanced clarification. Thus, though I believe everyone has the right to form their own personal preferences on this isssue, as Bill Widmer has now disclosed on his site he has done, I would like to address some factual ambiguity in the following message sent by Ginny Niles on Oct. 19th. 

Ginny states in her message:  "As a result of the work of the Blue Ribbon Task Force for Town Center, it was decided that a library would be separate from the town administration center."   

It is not evident that any formal decision or vote, whether by a committee or the council, was ever made to separate the library physically from the town administration center.  Historically, the needs of the library were seen as a priority by McKeithen and Dobbie, while the needs of the town center were felt to be the priority by Marsala and Lewis, which striking division seems to have resulted in the functional (dare I say, disfunctional?) separation of the council's two authorized subcommittee's, the Library Needs Assessment Task Force and the Blue Ribbon Task Force for Town Center addressing planning and visioning activities.     

Ginny states: "Thanks to the Blue Ribbon Task Force for Town Center, the Friends of the Library and the Library Task Force for laying the foundation on which the current library committee has built their recommendations."

The ALBSC is comprised of predominantly Friends of the Library members and is essentially the same group of individuals who were active in the precursor group, the Library Needs Assessment Task Force. This library-centric group guards its allocated JPA funds (now amounting to almost $6 million) jealously and has repeatedly accused members of the Blue Ribbon Task Force of wanting to "steal" these funds, presumably to leverage the town center process. The net result of the ALBSC's unwillingness to work together, is the more inefficient use of town funds to have duplicative "visioning" processes.  Also, I am not a fan of scare tactics that point accusing fingers at others with no proof of any actual offense.

Ginny states:  "Recently a complete Master Plan update of Holbrook-Palmer Park was completed and accepted by the City Council."  

I have heard mention of this recently completed Master Plan update for HPP being described by Denise Kupperman and now Ginny.  The ALBSC website only contains a copy of the April 2005 Master Plan that was created by Denise Kupperman (a member of the ALBSC) and a few others.  This 2005 Master Plan posted does not contain any reference to putting a library in the park.  

Ginny states:  "The Atherton Library Building Steering Committee was asked by the city council to choose between the Holbrook-Palmer site and the existing site for constructing a new Atherton library."

I must protest this characterization.  After what I am sure was considerable study and work by the ALBSC's precursor library group, the Library Needs Assessment Task Force, the group recommended the council approve putting the library in the park in 2009.  At that time, the majority of Carlson, Marsala and Lewis resisted the impulse to have the council make such a major decision themselves.  They wanted there to be community engagement in the decision.  Therefore, the ccouncil, with McKeithen and Dobbie dissenting, passed Resolution, Res. 10-30, that required a new entity be formed to ensure that:  "The facility will be a source of pride for generations to come . . . and that the community is engaged in the process and public input is drawn from multiple sources, including focus group meetings, interviews, surveys and charrettes/design workshops that will offer the community the opportunity to participate in the concept design process."   

Ginny states: "The site within the park is in accordance with the park master plan and the will provisions of the family who donated the land to the town."  

As mentioned above, in the current park Master plan this is not true.  The ALBSC retained a law firm to get a legal opinion on the will question but this also is not posted on the website.  As for the terms of the Palmer Will. The specific provision of the Palmer Will that pertains here does not mention a library anywhere, so Ginny is interpreting for us.  The will actually says:  

"Said Town of Atherton shall, at its own cost and expense, keep, maintain and operate said property in proper order and condition and in a manner suitable for a high class recreation park.  Said property shall not be used, occupied or operated for commercial or housing purposes, excepting only such (if any) as may be strictly incidental and appropriate to its use as a public recreation park, but the construction and/or use of a building thereon for public museum or auditorium purposes, which is consistent with the use of said property as a public recreational park, shall not be deemed forbidden thereby."

Ginny states:  "We hope you will read the following editorial by the Almanac and agree that after 3 years of study of town sites, that the Holbrook-Palmer Park site is the ideal location for the town's new library."

It is this last statement of Ginny's that dismays me the most.  The ALBSC was chartered one year ago by Res. 10-30 for the purpose of getting resident engagement and community input so as to make the best decision for the town.  The ALBSC has worked hard for sure, but if they had done a good job of getting meaningful engagement by the community, I suspect that current turmoil would not be happening.  I, myself, can find no record whatsoever of the ALBSC having actually gauged the community preferences about the location of the library.  

The recently circulated resident survey, which shows clearly that people want to have a more deliberative process to engage and evaluate the possible options for the library and downtown area in an more comprehensive manner, is the ONLY reliable data that we have now on broader resident sentiments.  A decisive 80% support a Master Plan for the town and, as the ALBSC has not fulfilled its mandate to make the library a source of harmony and pride for the town, the Master Planning process is really the only sensible option for avoiding what seems to be the risk of yet more controversy and possibly litigation. 

The library committee should not be trying to convince us of the merits of their hard work and their preferences.  Those empowered to get community input should not be pointing fingers at us to accuse us of stealing, or calling us names, like "nay sayer."  We residents love our town and our library and want to have input on what it becomes and if the committee won't listen, the council should be watching out for us.

Valerie Gardner

Member, Atherton Environmental Programs Committee

Former member, ALBSC

On Oct 18, 2011, at 2:07 PM, Ginny Nile wrote:

To all Atherton residents,

Please read.   

The Town of Atherton began investigating alternatives for town buildings 3 years ago.  As a result of the work of the Blue Ribbon Task Force for Town Center, it was decided that a library would be separate from the town administration center.  Thanks to the Blue Ribbon Task Force for Town Center, the Friends of the Library and the Library Task Force for laying the foundation on which the current library committee has built their recommendations.

Recently a complete Master Plan update of Holbrook-Palmer Park was completed and accepted by the City Council.   The Atherton Library Building Steering Committee was asked by the city council to choose between the Holbrook-Palmer Park site and the existing site for constructing a new Atherton library.  The site within the park is in accordance with the park master plan and the will provisions of the family who donated the land to the town.

We hope you will read the following editorial by the Almanac and agree that after 3 years of study of town sites, that the Holbrook-Palmer Park site is the ideal location for the town’s new library.

Thank you for your consideration.

Friends of the Atherton Library

[Moderator's note: Please respond solely to the sender's email address or post public comments on our companion blog at: http:Athertonians.blogspot.com, under the post of the same title. Thank you.]

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Viewpoint - Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Editorial: Library an opportunity for Atherton

Atherton has a chance to nearly double the size of its tiny library if the City Council has the courage to move ahead with the best option found by a citizen task force that has been working for over two years on the issue.

Of the two options presented, we prefer a new, 11,000-square-foot building in Holbrook-Palmer Park that would be large enough for use as a community center and easily could accommodate the activities that are now part of up-to-date modern libraries, with rooms for meetings, children's story hour and other functions. Such a building would be a tremendous asset for the town, which now offers library services in an 82-year-old building that is in bad need of rehabilitation.

The second, and in our opinion less desirable, option is to simply upgrade the 4,790-square-foot library now in use at Town Center, which would require a seismic retrofit and two more parking places on a site that is cramped and so close to the Caltrain tracks that when trains speed past in either direction all conversation in the library must stop. Despite the building's charm, it makes much more sense to use the site for a future expansion of Town Hall or to house the building department, which now operates out of trailers.

But perhaps the best part of the library proposal is that a new building is virtually paid for already, due to a provision in Proposition 13 that a tiny portion of residential property taxes be set aside to pay for library services. Atherton is part of a county library joint powers authority, and has been watching the town's library fund grow since 1978. It is now worth $5.6 million and by 2015 will be up to $8.4 million, just enough to pay for the estimated cost of a new library in the park.

This is great news for Atherton. In a town that just fired its entire Public Works and Building departments so it can outsource the jobs to save money, and which has just agreed to pay a developer more than $70,000 to settle a lawsuit over a road-impact fee, residents should be thankful that this magnificent improvement can be made with very little additional expense to the town.

More planning needs to be done, but the committee already has determined that razing the park's Main House to make room for the new building will not violate any historic regulations, and that there is adequate parking capacity in the 22-acre park. We believe fears of a huge increase in traffic at the park are unfounded, unless there is a special event scheduled at the library. This would be no different from the traffic drawn to the Pavilion or the Main House for a wedding or other special occasion.

Many critics of building a new library may not understand that the funds to be used are not available for any other use, including passing them on to a school library. Atherton must abide by the rules that come with being a signatory of the regional library joint powers agreement, which say the funds can be used only to support library services for all community members, not just those of a particular school.

We hope more Atherton residents will join those who see the value in adding a much higher quality library facility in Hol brook-Palmer Park. The library would be an asset for the community for years to come.